Three-dimensional (3D) printing represents the cutting-edge manufacturing approach as it revolutionizes designs and traditional manufacturing techniques, such as casting, coating, photolithography, and nano-imprinting. For instance, through programming laser scanning paths in 3D, materials can be constructed into arbitrary 3D nanostructures – this process is also known as laser 3D nanoprinting. It provides the possibility of fabricating nanoscale devices with fascinating functionalities that do not occur in nature, such as the negative refractive index, artificial chirality, ultralight mechanics, and so on. However, existing laser printing techniques typically require polymer-nanomaterial composites and are limited by the photopolymerization mechanism, resulting in a reduction of material purity and the degradation of intrinsic properties.
To address this technical challenge, Hong-Bo Sun, Linhan Lin and their research team from the Department of Precision Instrument at Tsinghua University have developed a new laser nanoprinting technique termed photoexcitation-induced chemical bonding (PEB), which is capable of organizing diverse nanomaterials into arbitrary 3D structures. PEB does not require any polymer additives or special designs of precursors and can directly assemble nanomaterials in free spaces with light, with a minimum printing linewidth of just 77 nm. This work has been published in the latest issue of the journal Science.
“We were deeply attracted by this experimental phenomenon from the first time we observed it,” Lin said. “Under laser illumination, nanomaterials were excited and further connected to each other to form structures in an unexpected way.”
To reveal the underlying mechanism, Liu and Hou (the lead authors of this work) have conducted a series of controlled experiments and confirmed that the high-energy carriers, through photoexcitation, play a significant role in initiating the printing process. Under photoexcitation, the holes excited inside quantum dots are transferred to the nanocrystal surface and improve their chemical reactivity, leading to interparticle chemical bonding (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 Working principle of PEB
As a proof-of-concept, researchers have successfully realized the 3D printing of nanomaterials into a wide range of complex structures, ranging from linear and curved to volumetric nanostructures at high resolution and high accuracy (Fig. 2). The heterogeneous integration of multi-materials in single structures was also achieved for multi-color 3D display. This technique paves the way in the fabrication of multifunctional optoelectronic devices, such as quantum dot light-emitting diodes or photodetectors.
Fig. 2 Linear, curved, and volumetric 3D nanostructures
“Using various nanocrystals synthesized chemically as building blocks, we expect to build integrated functional nanodevices that cannot be built using traditional techniques”, Sun concludes, “It will break the existing design rules and facilitate the development of new-concept nanophotonic or optoelectronic devices”.
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Tsinghua-Foshan Innovation Special Fund, and the State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments.
Original Article Link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo5345
Editor: Li Han


Image credit: Bigstock
This development marks a positive step for both public-private partnerships and local content in Senegal at the outset of its gas rush. Among the projects set for next year are the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) transnational development holding 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, co-developed by supermajor, bp and American oil firm, Kosmos Energy, and currently 75% complete. First production of 2.5 million tons per annum of liquefied natural gas is scheduled for late next year. Additionally, the Sangomar field owned and operated by Australian megafirm, Woodside Energy, will also come online next year at 100,000 barrels per day of oil production.
Of course, Senegal is already making local content headway with its latest legislative reforms coming into force in February last year. In this regard, the revised Petroleum Code requires firms in the sector to submit annual content plans justifying any international subcontracts.
Furthermore, the newly formed National Committee for Monitoring Local Content strives to achieve a 50% local content ratio for Senegal by 2030, and the widely lauded three-way regime system that reserves certain works for Senegalese firms has made substantial progress to this end.
However, this week’s Technip-COS Petrogaz MoU announcement marks yet another crucial stepping-stone in the provision of robust training programs for Senegalese citizens to gain the skills for active participation in the industry.
The MoU not only secures a strong ongoing local presence for multinational Technip but the equitable pursuit of natural gas developments benefitting the Senegalese people and economy. As a fuel, gas has a 70% lower carbon footprint than that of traditional heavy fuel oils while holding the crucial benefit of scalable development over some renewables, contributing to the aims of the Emergent Senegal Plan specifically through the goal of ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable electricity across the nation by 2030. Thanks to gas megadevelopments like the GTA project, Senegal’s GDP is expected to see solid growth next year.
Technip itself has a long history in the nation, currently overseeing upgrades to the Mbao SAR petroleum refinery facilities which process 1.2 million metric tons of crude oil each year, covering a major part of the nation’s demand. Technip also holds the engineering, procurement and construction, installation and commissioning contract for the GTA’s floating production storage and offloading unit. Whilst COS Petrogaz was launched by H.E. President Macky Sall as recently as 2016, their counterparts at Technip Energies have over 60 years’ experience across 34 countries.
Join Technip, COS Petrogaz and dozens of other high-level players in the region’s emerging energy industry at the MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power conference and exhibition 2022 which will take place on 1 to 2 September this year under the auspices of H.E. Macky Sall, Senegalese President and Chairperson of the African Union, at the world-renowned CICAD venue in Dakar. Among unparalleled networking and financing opportunities with pan-African delegates and delegations from across Europe, the United States, Asia and the Middle East, will be sessions devoted to the GTA megadevelopment, local opportunities and more. To register, visit.


The following I believe…statements are not in any particular order. I wrote them as I thought of them and later elaborated, if necessary. This has been a great exercise to help me articulate some of my beliefs. Sometimes we take them for granted, but it’s important to know what they are because they help us know ourselves better and why we act the way we do.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I believe that as a teacher I can make a difference for my students. I believe in the power of positive thinking because it can lift the burden off our shoulders. I believe students can and should take initiative to solve problems, both big and small. We just need to get out of the way and let them do it. I believe that the healing power of positive thinking can move us forward. I believe in the power of love, as cheesy as it may sound, to turn humanity around. I believe in the power of family to help navigate the hard times until we can steer the ship on our own. I believe in the power of friends – near and far, new and old – to remind us of who we are at each stage of our lives. I believe that the good guy is always right and will triumph in the end, even if I don’t get to see it. I believe that happy endings happen every day; we just need to broaden our idea of “happy endings”. I believe that my husband is my soul mate, and I marvel at this knowledge every single day. I believe that I if I want to, I can change myself – make myself over again, iterate myself into something new and improved – through hard work, faith and a big dose of patience and humility. I believe we need to let go of the things we can’t control and focus on what we can control.
Cross posted to Two Writing Teachers March Slice of Life Challenge, Day #19.


This article, "The Taxing Law of Taxpayer Standing," is a comprehensive exploration of the issues raised by the Supreme Court case Hein v. Freedom from Religion, et al, 551 U.S. __ (2007). The Court in Hein denied standing to federal taxpayers challenging President Bush's faith-based initiative program. This decision makes it virtually impossible for plaintiffs to challenge Executive Branch actions that allegedly violate the Establishment Clause unless Congress specifically authorized the expenditure at issue. If the President, for example, placed a permanent cross in the White House without using funds earmarked by Congress, it is unlikely anyone would have standing to challenge that decision Hein also reaffirms the seminal taxpayer standing case, Flast v. Cohen, which has been repeatedly criticized by scholars and Supreme Court Justices. This piece details the history of the taxpayer standing question, fully discusses the Hein decision, and suggests an alternative approach to this vexing jurisdictional question.


Premarital Property Remained Separate Property Despite Couple Securing Line of Credit
Luplow v. Luplow, 450 S.W.3d 105 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014).
Mary Lisa Gaston Luplow and Martin Luplow were married in 1983 and had two children. In 2010, the wife filed a complaint for divorce in Davidson County, Tennessee, alleging inappropriate marital conduct and irreconcilable differences. The husband filed a counterclaim, alleging the same grounds. After various pretrial orders, a trial was held in 2012 before Judge Phillip R. Robinson, and a final judgment was entered. Both parties appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The husband appealed the classification of one piece of real property, which the trial court had found to be the wife’s separate property.
After addressing other issues, the appeals court turned to the status of the real property which the wife had inherited when her father died. The husband argued that this property had transmuted into a marital asset because they took out a line of credit against the property, and because he had paid a portion of the property taxes during the pendency of the divorce. The lower court had found that the property had not transmuted, and the appeals court noted that this is a factual determination that has a presumption of correctness. It examined the evidence and concluded that the evidence did not preponderate against the trial court’s findings.
The husband also argued that he had paid the taxes on the parcel one year, but the Court of Appeals also held that this factor was insufficient to transmute the property.
Even though the appeals court agreed that this property was the wife’s, it did not agree with the disposition of the line of credit secured by the property. The lower court had found that the line of credit against this property was solely the wife’s responsibility. But since both parties had incurred this debt, the Court of Appeals held that it was a joint obligation.
For more discussion of this case, see TN Husband Must Pay for Workplace Malfeasance in Divorce.
This post is part of a series, Appreciation of Separate Property: The Forensic Accountant’s Full Employment Act.


Like all the asset classes of real estate, hospitality also witnessed significant changes post COVID-19. Preferences of travelers / tourists have changed significantly post March 2020. Gap between India’s and developed countries’ mindset on holidays is narrowing due to increased affordability, improving demography and flexibility at workplaces.Travel restrictions, flexibility to Work from Home (anywhere) is reshaping the hospitality industry. Travelling within India has been preferred more so due to restrictions and flexibility to plan the trip at the last minute.
Some of the trends in hospitality sector that are likely to be common during 2022 are – workcations and staycations. This trend is likely to continue making resorts a good investment opportunity in coming times.
Workcations:A lot of people have capitalized on the opportunity to Work from Home and shifted their place from a typical urban dwelling to a picturesque rural location. Workcations are usually longer stays (7 – 10-day duration) which involves staying across various destinations of popular tourist circuits in India. Staycations:Staycations are typically shorter vacations – 1 – 2 nights stay in proximity to the cities (up to 100 KM from major city). Staycations are preferred by both individuals and corporates.
Rising demand for staycation and workcations is making resorts a good investment opportunity. Urban resorts as well as resorts in holiday locations are on an average clocking in occupancy levels in the range of 70% - 75% and ARR for luxury hotels / resorts ranging between INR 12,000 – 15,000 per night. Urban resorts are upscale, or luxury resorts located at 75 – 100 KM from tier I cities. Leisure travelers account for nearly 50% - 60% of the demand in urban resorts today as compared to a mere 25% - 30% pre COVID-19 levels; one of the key reasons being no or restricted international travel in the last two years.
Despite international travel resuming, we expect demand for resorts is likely to significantly increase making them a good investment opportunity. Some of the reasons why resorts will see growth in 1 – 3 year horizon include:
1. Weekend Get-away / Staycation
Uncertainty in planning a vacation and with different travel restrictions posed by various states, urban resorts gained prominence for a short break. Urban resorts offer all the facilities and desirable aspects of a vacation while offering the flexibility to book at the last minute and no hassle of booking flight or train tickets. A pet friendly resort, offering a separate swimming pool or activities for pets is a value add. Similarly, an urban resort designed around a theme – golf course, wellness, or a scenic spot of the city (hill, river, or a beach) or offering a unique experience are likely to be preferred over conventional urban resorts.
2. Need of collaborative spaces
With many companies allowing WFH, there is substantial demand for collaborative spaces – a change of environment for team meetings or board meetings or group discussions. As against conventional city hotels, urban resorts are preferred. Usually, these are day events requiring board rooms or meeting rooms supported by Food and Beverages (F&B).
3. Corporate Outings
As compared to the offshore locations or tourist locations within India, urban locations in proximity to the cities are preferred for corporate events and outings. The pent-up demand for corporate outings, conferences and training programs are resulting in to 1 or 2 nights stay at city’s urban resorts.
4. Destination Weddings
Presence for resorts for destination weddings has seen a surge as compared to traditional wedding venues. Within cities, urban resorts are preferred over conventional business hotels for destination weddings. Usually, the group size here varies between 150 – 250 people; it includes a stay-over up to 2 nights and involves elaborate F&B requirements and usage of different spaces for different events.
5. Workcation
A lot of companies are evaluating an option of offering hybrid option – work from office limited to 2 or 3 days a week. Vacations are no longer likely to be confined to weekends or school holidays. Flexible working culture will increase the demand for resorts and preferences for lesser traveled locations in proximity to tier I and II cities of India. Holiday locations around Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune (in addition to Goa) are likely to witness increased traction in coming 1 – 3 years.
Development of resorts is likely to witness increase around tier I, II and gateway locations and the changing needs of the target audience are likely to push the developers / property owners evaluate newer product types. The hospitality spaces are likely to extend their offerings for kids, pets, or even senior citizens. Developers are likely to evaluate sale and lease back options in tourist locations or timeshare memberships that is specific to certain geographies. Key tourist locations within 200 – 300 KM from major cities are likely to see development of managed second homes or vacation homes. A lot of real estate developers are evaluating an option of second home targeting both HNI / UHNIs as well as NRIs coupled with a hospitality project.
Meraqi’s team conducts detailed technical and economic feasibility report to assess the viability of a hospitality development. We also assist in preparing a business plan for various models of hospitality and assist property owners to partner with hotel operators.


Background Maintaining blood pressure (BP) control over time may contribute to lower risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among individuals who are taking antihypertensive medication. Methods The Jackson Heart Study (JHS) enrolled 5,306 African-American adults ≥21 years of age and was used to determine the proportion of African Americans that maintain persistent BP control, identify factors associated with persistent BP control, and determine the association of persistent BP control with CVD events. This analysis included 1,604 participants who were taking antihypertensive medication at Visit 1 and had BP data at Visits 1 (2000–2004), 2 (2005–2008), and 3 (2009–2013). Persistent BP control was defined as systolic BP <140 mm Hg and diastolic BP <90 mm Hg at all three visits. CVD events were assessed from Visit 3 through December 31, 2016. Hazard ratios (HR) for the association of persistent BP control with CVD outcomes were adjusted for age, sex, systolic BP, smoking, diabetes, and total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol at Visit 3. Results At Visit 1, 1,226 of 1,604 participants (76.4%) with hypertension had controlled BP. Overall, 48.9% of participants taking antihypertensive medication at Visit 1 had persistent BP control. After multivariable adjustment for demographic, socioeconomic, clinical, behavioral, and psychosocial factors, and access-to-care, participants were more likely to have persistent BP control if they were <65 years of age, women, had family income ≥$25,000 at each visit, and visited a health professional in the year prior to each visit. The multivariable adjusted HR (95% confidence interval) comparing participants with versus without persistent BP control was 0.71 (0.46–1.10) for CVD, 0.68 (0.34–1.34) for coronary heart disease, 0.65 (0.27–1.52) for stroke, and 0.55 (0.33–0.90) for heart failure. Conclusion Less than half of JHS participants taking antihypertensive medication had persistent BP control, putting them at increased risk for heart failure.


Cited by Lee Sonogan
Memories are thought to undergo an episodic-to-semantic transformation in the course of their consolidation. We here test if repeated recall induces a similar semanticisation, and if the resulting qualitative changes in memories can be measured using simple feature-specific reaction time probes. Participants studied associations between verbs and object images, and then repeatedly recalled the objects when cued with the verb, immediately and after a two-day delay. Reaction times during immediate recall demonstrate that conceptual features are accessed faster than perceptual features. Consistent with a semanticisation process, this perceptual-conceptual gap significantly increases across the delay. A significantly smaller perceptual-conceptual gap is found in the delayed recall data of a control group who repeatedly studied the verb-object pairings on the first day, instead of actively recalling them. Our findings suggest that wake recall and offline consolidation interact to transform memories over time, strengthening meaningful semantic information over perceptual detail.
Publication: Nature Communication (Peer-Reviewed Journal) Pub Date: 26 May 2021 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23288-5
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23288-5#citeas (Plenty more sections, figures and references in this article)


What is a Merchant Builder?
Merchant builders, also referred to as merchant developers, are those developers that build properties and sell them, rather than holding onto them for longer periods of time. In many cases, merchant builders trend toward the construction of single-tenant commercial buildings. This can often be explained by the fact that, much of the time, merchant builders don’t build on spec; instead, they develop a building with a specific tenant in mind, typically a national brand such as a Wendy’s or a CVS.
After developing the property and leasing it to the tenant, a merchant builder will generally sell the property to one or more investors. Generally, the tenant will have signed a long-term, double or triple net lease, increasing the profitability of the property and thus making it easier to sell to potential investors.
Investor/Developer Partnerships for Merchant Builders
Much of the time, merchant builders partner with investors, who will often contribute the majority of the capital required for the deal. In some cases, they will sell the finished building to a third party, while in others, the merchant builder/developer will sell their share of the building to the investor(s), giving them full ownership.
For instance, if a merchant builder wants to build a $5 million single-tenant property for a drug store, and can get commercial financing up to 75% LTV, they will need a down payment of about $1.25 million. Developers often contribute about 10-20% to such deals, so, with a 15% contribution, the developer will put down $187,500, the investors will contribute about $1.06 million, and the developer will have a construction loan of approximately $3.75 million.
If, at the end of the building period, the building is sold for $6 million, this would leave the developer and the investors with about $1 million in pre-tax profit after the repayment of their construction loan. In most cases, both parties will agree on preferred return for the initial equity they have invested in the project, which can be implemented in a variety of different ways. For instance, if the preferred return is 15%, the developer/merchant builder would receive $28,125, while the investors would get around $159,000. The remaining $850,000 or profit is likely to be divided more equally between the developer and the investors, with a 50/50 arrangement being somewhat common. This would provide about $425,000 in returns for both parties.


Kara-Yakoubian, et al.
(2021, October 28).
https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/tpnkw
Abstract
How do people reason in response to ambiguous messages shared by admirable individuals? Using behavioral markers and self-report questionnaires, in two experiments (N = 571) we examined the influence of speakers’ admirability on meaning-seeking and wise reasoning in response to pseudo-profound bullshit. In both studies, statements that sounded superficially impressive but lacked intent to communicate meaning generated meaning-seeking, but only when delivered by high admirability speakers (e.g., the Dalai Lama) as compared to low admirability speakers (e.g., Kim Kardashian). The effect of speakers’ admirability on meaning-seeking was unique to pseudo-profound bullshit statements and was absent for mundane (Study 1) and motivational (Study 2) statements. In Study 2, participants also engaged in wiser reasoning for pseudo-profound bullshit (vs. motivational) statements and did more so when speakers were high in admirability. These effects occurred independently of the amount of time spent on statements or the complexity of participants’ reflections. It appears that pseudo-profound bullshit can promote epistemic reflection and certain aspects of wisdom, when associated with an admirable speaker.
From the General Discussion
Pseudo-profound language represents a type of misinformation (Čavojová et al., 2019b; Littrell et al., 2021; Pennycook & Rand, 2019a) where ambiguity reigns. Our findings suggest that source admirability could play an important role in the cognitive processing of ambiguous misinformation, including fake news (Pennycook & Rand, 2020) and euphemistic language (Walker et al., 2021). For instance, in the case of fake news, people may be more inclined to engage in epistemic reflection if the source of an article is highly admirable. However, we also observed that statements from high (vs. low) admirability sources were judged as more profound and were better liked. Extended to misinformation, a combination of greater perceived profundity, liking, and acquired meaning could potentially facilitate the sharing of ambiguous fake news content throughout social networks. Increased reflective thinking (as measured by the CRT) has also been linked to greater discernment on social media, with individuals who score higher on the CRT being less likely to believe fake news stories and share this type of content (Mosleh et al., 2021; Pennycook & Rand, 2019a). Perhaps, people might engage in more epistemic reflection if the source of an article is highly admirable, which may in turn predict a decrease in the sharing behaviour of fake news. Similarly, people may be more inclined to engage in epistemic reflection for euphemistic language, such as the term “enhanced interrogation” used in replacement of “torture,” and conclude that this type of language means something other than what it refers to, if used by a more admirable (compared to a less admirable) individual.


On 19 May 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a final report on highly liquid financial instruments for central counterparty (CCP) investment policies under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
The final report has been published in response to a mandate that the European Commission issued on 18 May 2020 asking the ESMA to submit a report on whether the list of financial instruments that are considered highly liquid with minimal market and credit risk for CCP investments, in accordance with Article 47 of EMIR, could be extended and whether that list could include one or more money market funds (MMFs) authorised in accordance with the Regulation on MMFs. The preparation of the final report was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key parts of the final report include:
Section 3 reviews the existing international and EU requirements on CCP investment policies and provides background on the legal mandate and the scope of the final report. Section 4 provides a brief overview of CCP investment trade-offs, requirements and practices across the globe. Section 5 includes the ESMA’s views on a potential extension of the list of financial instruments deemed highly liquid for CCP investments, including on MMFs. Section 6 outlines further feedback received by stakeholders on CCP cash holdings.
Key findings in the final report include:
Further work is to be done by the ESMA regarding the extension of the list of eligible financial instruments to certain public entities and potentially to covered bonds pending further research. Further work will also be pursued within the CCP supervisory committee to ensure a common supervisory approach regarding CCP investment practices. It would be premature to allow CCP investments in MMFs, as no category of MMFs currently meets all the conditions that define highly liquid financial instruments. The forthcoming review of the MMF Regulation is expected to assess possible changes to the regulatory framework that might make EU MMF adequate for CCP investments.
The final report has been sent to the Commission. The ESMA will consider further work to potentially amend relevant sections of regulatory technical standards or other relevant level 3 measures.


A study developed by researchers from the Department of Botany and Plant Physiology of the University of Malaga has warned that the indiscriminate use of herbicides in intensive agriculture poses a risk to freshwater ecosystems. Researchers have studied how the sustained increase of herbicides in these water bodies – swamps, wetlands or rivers- It affects


DriveTech, the UK’s leading driver training provider, has launched an informative new whitepaper highlighting the reality of road safety in the UK and more globally. ‘The Global Language of Road Safety and Why it Matters’ provides practical advice for reducing driving risk in a business and insight to inspire widespread thinking about the language used to communicate road safety.
The report comes as part of DriveTech’s continued commitment to providing valuable training to drivers in the UK and within multi-country fleet clients, as well as sharing information on road safety with businesses and individuals.
While insight from the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests that the incremental increase in road deaths has slowed over the past decade, it is still essential for drivers to remain up-to-date with training, education, technology and legislative changes.
Charlie Norman, managing director at DriveTech, commented: “Road traffic deaths and injuries can be prevented, they are not inevitable. Yet, in the UK alone, there are still in excess of 400 casualties on the roads every day.
“Reducing these figures requires input from a variety of sources, but there’s a crucial role that business can play. Communicating road safety to employees will have a direct impact on how they behave behind the wheel.
“The fact that, collectively, we can do something about road traffic incidents is extremely inspiring. Our new whitepaper communicates why language is one of the most powerful tools, offering practical advice on what steps you should be taking to help influence positive behaviour and put safety first.”


In the manufacturing sector, there is often a lack of flexible automation solutions, especially in component feeding. Workpieces are often stored in disorganized fashion in crates or pallet cages and then separated by spiral conveyors and conveyor belts with complex mechanics specially adapted to the parts. This makes such automated feeders inflexible in the face of component changes, and any adjustments which need to be made to the feeding technology are time-consuming and expensive. Alternatively, robots can be used to pick up the disorderly parts directly out of the crates or off the conveyor belt. However, precise 3D detection of the objects or their position is essential.
To this end, various 3D recognition methods have been developed. Based on CAD data or even entirely without a component model, these methods recognize the component directly in the measurement data and accurately determine its position in space.
Recognizing 3D object positions in 3D measuring point clouds without a CAD model is based on best-fit methods for regular geometric elements such as planes, cylinders, cones, spheres or tori. This method was chosen because many workpieces are cylindrical or conical in shape. However, the objects to be recognized do not have to be cylinders or cones - significantly more complex workpieces can also be recognized.
3D object recognition solutions based on CAD models have also been developed. These are used, in particular, if the component to be detected does not feature any dominant regular geometric elements, but consists mainly of free-form surfaces or has a complex geometry.
Until now, complete CAD models could not be fitted into the measurement data because calculation times were too long. The new techniques for best-fitting STL or CAD models into 3D measurement point clouds can, depending on the required accuracy of the result, use different calculation methods during the optimization and thus greatly accelerate the calculation.


The Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) is an annual assessment of higher education institutions that measures how universities transfer their knowledge to different types of partners in order to benefit the economy and society.
By assessing institutions, the KEF aims to provide information to help potential partners access universities’ world-class knowledge, allow universities to understand their performance and ensure public funding used in knowledge exchange is effective.
King’s was ranked against a peer set of institutions with similar research characteristics across various perspectives that capture the broad range of knowledge activity universities carry out. Five of the seven perspectives had updated data included this year, with the remaining two being updated next year.
In the updated perspectives, King’s ranked:
In the top quintile (top 20% of the sector) for Research Partnerships (above the average for the peer group) In the top quintile for IP and Commercialisation (average for the peer group) In the top quintile for Working with Business (average for the peer group) In the top quintile for Working with the Public and Third Sector (above average for the peer group) In the top quintile for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Graduate Start-ups (above the average for the peer group)
Knowledge exchange in practice
One of the projects that contributed to King’s ranking for IP and commercialisation, was the successful licensing of research from the Allergy and Asthma Group. A collaborative research project with UCB Pharma, used insights from the Group’s research to develop two different allergy drugs. The King’s team was embedded in the UCB drug discovery and development programme, ensuring effective knowledge exchange between the two partners.
King’s continues to perform as one of the largest providers of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in England and has ranked in the top two among the peer set for the CPD and Graduate Startups perspective. Sojo, a graduate startup that has received significant investment from King’s Entrepreneurship Institute, was used as an example. This business, which was the winner of King’s20 Accelerator 2020-21, was coached by the Entrepreneurship Institute to ensure the venture was successful. Since being on King’s20, Sojo has secured investment, won the Santander X Entrepreneurship Awards pitch competition, and built partnerships with renowned retail companies.
Kings was incredibly supportive of me at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. Through advice, workshops, support and grants they laid such strong foundations for me to pursue and grow Sojo full-time after university.– Josephine Philips, King’s graduate and founder of Sojo
The strength of King’s partnerships with non-academic organisations, particularly with partner NHS Trusts, is demonstrated by the university’s performance in the Research Partnerships perspective.
I’m really proud of our performance with all of the updated metrics placing King’s in the top quintile and above the peer group cluster average in three of the seven perspectives. This shows our strong focus on Knowledge Exchange across the university bearing fruit. Moving forward we will be continuing this focus with Research Impact and Knowledge Exchange a key pillar of future strategy.– Professor Reza Razavi, Vice President (Research) at King’s
Knowledge exchange is integral to the mission and purpose of our universities, and its importance in contributing to societal and economic prosperity is strongly supported by the Government. Today’s new version of the Knowledge Exchange Framework takes further forward the vision and potential of KE activity, providing richer evidence to demonstrate universities’ strengths in different areas when set alongside their peers.– David Sweeney CBE, Executive Chair of Research England


Israel restricts Palestinian movement within the oPt, including between the Gaza Strip and West Bank, through a combination of physical obstacles, bureaucratic constraints, and the designation of areas as restricted or closed. Combined, these restrictions impede access to services and resources, disrupt family and social life and undermine Palestinians’ enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights, undermine livelihoods and compound the fragmentation of the oPt.
Fenced in on its land borders with Israel and Egypt, and with no control over its airspace or territorial waters, access from the Gaza Strip to the outside world is restricted to three land crossings, controlled by Israel (Erez and Kerem Shalom) and Egypt (Rafah). While the Israeli blockade remains a form of collective punishment of the civilian population,[1] 2015 witnessed a significant relaxation of restrictions by the Israeli authorities, as evidenced in an increase in the volume of Palestinians from Gaza, in particular businessmen and patients, permitted to leave through the Erez crossing: a limited passage of Muslims and Christians to the holy places in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, also continued.[2] The easing of restrictions also resulted in a significant increase in the amount of goods allowed in and out of Gaza for commercial purposes through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
However, the other three Israeli-controlled crossings, Nahal Oz, Sufa and Karni, remained closed in 2015, while the vast majority of the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt remained inoperative. The Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing also remained largely closed in 2015, including for humanitarian assistance.
Physical obstacles such as the Barrier and checkpoints, and administrative requirements, particularly permits, restrict Palestinian access and movement within the West Bank, including into East Jerusalem, areas isolated by the Barrier, ‘firing zones’, the Israeli-controlled area of Hebron city (H2), and land around or within Israeli settlements. In recent years, the Israeli authorities have eased some long-standing restrictions in the West Bank, improving Palestinian access to key urban hubs. This trend continued into 2015, with a lifting of permit requirements to enter East Jerusalem and Israel for all male West Bank ID holders above 55 years and women above 50 years. The wave of violence that spread throughout the West Bank in the latter part of the year resulted in increased restrictions on Palestinian movement throughout, with the Israeli authorities citing security concerns.
2015 was marked by a continuation of the relaxations introduced by the Israeli authorities in the aftermath of the 2014 hostilities and resulted in a significant increase in the number of crossings of people via Erez and the volume of goods via Kerem Shalom. However, the remaining restrictions on external trade, including with the West Bank, and on access to agricultural land and fishing waters, are key factors discouraging investment and perpetuating high levels of unemployment, food insecurity and aid dependency. According to the Israeli authorities, the access restrictions they impose on the Gaza Strip are security measures addressing a range of threats, including the smuggling of weapons, the firing of rockets and the digging of offensive tunnels. The inability of the Government of National Consensus to assume control over of the Palestinian side of the crossings due to the ongoing internal divide has added additional challenges. The humanitarian impact of the blockade is also exacerbated by the almost-continued closure by Egypt of the Rafah passenger crossing since October 2014, leaving the vast majority of the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza unable to leave.
Citing security concerns, including rocket firing and digging of tunnels, Israeli forces continued to enforce a buffer zone by land and sea, the “Access Restricted Areas“ (ARA), including through the firing of live ammunition, land levelling, destruction of property, arrests, and the confiscation of equipment. By sea, since 2013, Israel has enforced a six-nautical-mile fishing limit along the entire Gaza coast; Israel and Egypt also impose a “no fishing zone” along their respective maritime boundaries with Gaza.
The exact extent where access is permissible by land remains unclear. Areas up to 300 metres from the perimeter fence are generally considered to be a “no-go” area and up to 1,000 meters “high risk”, which discourages farmers from cultivating these areas. In some cases in 2015, special coordination was granted to international organizations to implement projects up to 100 metres from the fence.
Rafah has been largely closed, including for humanitarian assistance, since 24 October 2014: in 2015 there were 32 days of partial openings. Of a total of 1,670 patients referred by the Palestinian Ministry of Health to Egypt, 178 patients were able to cross to Egypt. Prior to the closure, a monthly average of 4,000 people crossed Rafah for health related reasons.[3] By year’s end, at least 30,000 Palestinians registered as humanitarian cases were waiting to cross Rafah and an unidentified number of Palestinians were stranded in Egypt waiting to return.
Imports: Israel expanded the Kerem Shalom crossing and allowed in 88 per cent more imports compared to the previous year, amounting to 64 per cent of the total imports prior to the imposition of the blockade. The “dual use” list of goods (items that could be used for military as well as civilian purposes) was revised three times during 2015, removing a longstanding restriction on the import of gravel, but banning previously-approved items, including wooden boards thicker than 1 cm.
Exports: For the first time since the imposition of the blockade in 2007, Israel allowed the export of goods to Israel. In 2015, there was six-fold increase in exports and transfers from Gaza compared to 2014. Total exits are still 14.5 per cent of a wider range of exports that left Gaza for Israel, the West Bank and the external world in 2005, prior to the imposition of various restrictions ending in a full blockade in 2007.
The number of Palestinians permitted by Israel to cross through Erez more than doubled in 2015 compared to 2014, with businessmen and patients and their companions accounting for the highest category. Israel raised the monthly quota of merchant-permits from 3,000 to 5,000, and daily exits of merchant permit-holders from 400 to up to 800. During the year, there was an increase in the absolute number of medical permits issued, along with a decline in approval rates which, by the end of December, was the lowest (67 per cent) since May 2009. Restrictions were also placed on patient companions, including raising the minimum age to 55.
The trend of recent years of easing some of the restrictions on Palestinian movement continued into 2015, including during the Ramadan period, which saw some Gaza pilgrims granted permits to visit Al Aqsa Mosque for the first time since 2000. However, the escalation of violence in the latter part of the year witnessed a re-imposition of some of physical and administrative measures by the Israeli authorities, citing security needs. These disrupted access to services, including educational and health facilities, places of work, and holy sites, forcing people to take longer and more costly routes.[4]
Heightened tensions during September, in conjunction with an increase in the entry of Israelis to the Al Haram Al Sharif / Temple Mount, led to a select list of Palestinians prohibited from entering the compound. An increase in attacks and violence in October led to the deployment of about 40 new checkpoints and roadblocks, systematically restricting the movement of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, and affecting 138,000 people in nine neighbourhoods. The majority of these obstacles were gradually removed, with eight obstacles still in place by the end of the year.
The Israeli authorities resumed construction of a section of the Barrier in the Cremisan valley extending from Beit Jala to the village of Walaja in the Bethlehem governorate. While this construction was approved by the Israeli Supreme Court, it contravenes the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion of 2004. In total, 56 km of the Barrier’s route are located within Bethlehem governorate. If completed as planned, 58 Palestinian farming families will be separated from approximately 3,000 dunams of land.
During October, Israeli forces intensified movement restrictions following the killing of an Israeli couple in the Nablus governorate: as of 31 December, there were 18 new obstacles, in addition to 167 pre-existing obstacles. These include two checkpoints (Huwwara and Za'tara) which were intermittently closed without prior notice, and the turning of a road (Nablus eastern bypass) into an Israeli-only road, diverting Palestinian traffic into a longer and more congested detour.
Following a series of attacks and alleged attacks in the governorate, movement restrictions in Hebron peaked in November, with 53 obstacles deployed, in addition to 109 pre-existing obstacles,[5] blocking or restricting all routes, including dirt roads, leading to Hebron city. Palestinian access to the settlement area within the Israeli-controlled part of Hebron City (H2) was further restricted.[6] Most restrictions remained in place as of the end of 2015, and resulted in long delays and disruptions to services and livelihoods, including access to hospitals and schools.
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Over 4,000 children go to 15 schools located in the H2 area, who were affected by access restrictions.
[2] Since November 2014, Israel has allowed a weekly average of 200 Muslims to visit Al Aqsa Mosque and continued to grant Christian Palestinians permits to visit holy sites in the West Bank twice a year, with a total of 996 exits recorded in 2015 compared to 945 in 2014. Israel also granted 161 permits to students to travel via Erez to reach academic institutions abroad.
[4] Two Palestinians died on their way to hospitals after being delayed at newly-established checkpoints: the elderly, ill, disabled and women were disproportionately affected groups.
[5] These include around 95 obstacles and permanently staffed checkpoints, in the over 20% of Hebron City, known as H2, where Israel continues to exercise full control. This area is home to over 6,000 Palestinians.
[6] This included a sweeping ban on the crossing of Palestinian males aged between 15 and 25 through certain checkpoints, as well as the requirement from residents of these areas to register with the Israeli authorities in order to be allowed through other checkpoints.


Researchers sought to identify the trajectories of insomnia in the 12 months following incidence of traumatic brain injury.
All articles by Neurology Advisor Contributing Writer
In a small study, researchers identified the clinical characteristics of patients who develop cognitive PASC after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection and inform pathogenesis.
In a retrospective, observational study, researchers determined the impact of COVID-19 infection in patients with myasthenia gravis.


Having worked as a research scientist at the Environmental Psychophysiology Laboratory at Texas A&M University, Verrick believes in the importance of knowledge-based design. This interest led to a specialization at Page in research, development, and technology projects, where understanding scientific methodology and experimental processes are fundamental to defining successfully facility project goals, solution sets, and ultimately, designs. He has collaborated with academic partners at University of Michigan, University of Maryland, Texas Tech University, and Florida State University to explore how visual characteristics of built and natural environments influence human perception, performance, and behavior, including worker productivity, health outcomes, and housing market preferences.
Verrick also believes that, like faith, knowledge without deeds is empty. He cares deeply about effecting positive change in the communities in which Page works. Mentoring students at his church; participating in Career Day programs at his wife's school; serving as guest lecturer and juror at Texas A&M University; volunteering with Habitat for Humanity; and serving on the board of the Center for Race and Justice, among other things, are as important to him as delivering the millions of square feet of complex projects for Fortune 100 companies completed during his tenure at Page.


“Smokes and Ladders” helps younger students understand some of the issues surrounding the dangers of smoking and second-hand smoke.
This game includes strategies to deal with situations where tobacco is involved, and students are encouraged to discuss the scenarios as they are encountered.
Students can play in groups of 2-4. A set of dice is included but not playing pieces (i.e. markers). Any small object can serve as a marker (e.g. eraser).
“Smokes and Ladders” introduces various situations involving tobacco. You can use these situations as a starting point for discussions on topics involving the dangers of smoking and the benefits of staying smoke-free.
Visit Harmful Health Effects of Smoking for additional information to facilitate discussions.
Revised: Monday March 04 2019


Description Non-acidic which makes it gentle on the digestive system Key factor in the body's immune system Contains 3, 667% of your daily value of vitamin C
Calcium ascorbate is non-acidic (pH neutral), making it gentle on the digestive system. Vitamin C plays a vital role in the formation of collagen (a structural protein in connective tissue), amino acid metabolism and hormone synthesis, and the utilization of many nutrients, such as folic acid and iron. It is also a key factor in the body??s immune system.*
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Per WLKY, a pedestrian was killed in a wreck in downtown Louisville that occurred around 11 p.m. on Thursday, October 20, 2022. The wreck occurred on Muhammad Ali Boulevard and 3rd Street. Louisville Metro Police Department has confirmed that the man hit by the vehicle was transported to UofL Hospital and died shortly after he got to the hospital. Police are still investigating to determine the circumstances that resulted in the driver hitting the pedestrian. Our condolences go out to the victim’s family and friends.
Pedestrians should feel safe when crossing the street, but unfortunately, drivers do not always pay attention while driving. Wrecks involving pedestrians often cause catastrophic injuries or even death. Pedestrians have the right-of-way and have no responsibility when they are struck when walking in a crosswalk and obeying a walk light. Additional laws exist that may hold the driver liable even if the pedestrian is outside of the crosswalk. Drivers are required to pay attention to the roadway at all times. Thus, even if a pedestrian is crossing a road where they should not, the pedestrian may still have a case if struck by an inattentive driver.
Kentucky is a pure comparative negligence state. This means that Kentucky law allows pedestrian accident victims to recover compensation so long as the driver was at least 1% at fault. The pedestrian’s compensation is reduced, however, in proportion to their share of fault. For instance, if a pedestrian is found to be 80% liable for the accident and the driver is apportioned the remaining 20% of the liability for the accident, the pedestrian is entitled to recover 20% of their damages from the driver or their insurance company.
When a pedestrian walks across the street against a light or outside of the crosswalk, the pedestrian may share blame for the accident. However, drivers must still pay attention to the roadway. Even if the pedestrian is careless, it does not give a driver a right to run them over. Drivers owe a duty to pedestrians to watch the roadway and avoid any accident that can be avoided had the driver been acting reasonably. Other examples of driver negligence that lead to pedestrian accidents include drunk drivers, speeding, and fatigued drivers.
When careless or reckless drivers strike a pedestrian, Meagher Injury Lawyers may be able to help the pedestrian recover the maximum compensation they deserve. Our office represents pedestrian injury victims and their families in pedestrian accidents in Louisville and throughout Kentucky. Tate and his team use our experience to predict how juries will allocate fault and can help guide you through the legal process when the other driver or their insurance company tries to minimize you or your loved ones injury claim following a pedestrian accident. It is our passion to help injury victims. If you or a loved one were injured in a pedestrian accident, Don’t Wait, Call Tate!


Remote monitoring strategies for patients with stable heart failure: A systematic review and network meta-analysis (ISPOR 20th Annual International Meeting 16-20 May 2015)
posterposted on 27.02.2020, 00:05 authored by Abdullah PandorAbdullah Pandor, Ruth WongRuth Wong, John W Stevens, Tim Gomersall
Heart failure (HF) is a chronic cardiovascular illness associated with high levels of mortality, morbidity, and compromised quality-of-life. Remote monitoring (RM) of prognostic indicators for HF e.g. weight, blood pressure, heart rate etc. may facilitate early detection of clinically significant changes, prevent emergency admissions and avoid complications.
This study was to to evaluate whether RM improves outcomes for adults with stable HF (defined as having no acute event or deterioration in the past 28 days) who are managed in the community (ambulatory or outpatient care setting).
History EthicsThere is no personal data or any that requires ethical approval PolicyThe data complies with the institution and funders' policies on access and sharing Sharing and access restrictionsThe data can be shared openly Data description The file formats are open or commonly used Methodology, headings and units Headings and units are explained in the files


Why do we see persistent class-based gaps in career attainment and success, even among those with equivalent educational credentials? My research explores the reasons for these gaps and their implications for firms by examining how class background shapes the way people choose and develop their careers.
As organizations attract more employees from diverse backgrounds, employees have become more heterogeneous in what they want from the organization, as well as in their skills and knowledge to navigate their careers. Therefore, understanding these idiosyncrasies and orchestrating them in synergetic ways become ever more critical. Drawing on theories of culture and cognition, I examine how individuals from diverse class backgrounds vary in their approaches to and experiences in navigating careers, focusing on their implications for inequality and human resource management. I use a diverse set of both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate this question, including interviews, surveys, and archival data analysis.
Before coming to Wharton, I was a co-founder of South Korea’s leading online travel platform.
Abstract: How do managers’ moves across jobs affect the subordinates they leave behind? Manager mobility disrupts established manager-subordinate relationships, as subordinates must now learn to work with a replacement. We explore how this relational disruption affects subordinates’ objective career success – specifically their financial rewards and subsequent promotion chances. We argue that manager mobility may have both positive and negative implications for subordinate outcomes. The loss of an established relationship may reduce subordinates’ performance and managers’ propensity to reward them; on the other hand, relational disruption may make subordinates more willing and able to seek out valuable opportunities elsewhere in the organization. We also argue that these effects are likely to be greatest for those subordinates who had worked with the previous manager for longer. Using eight years of personnel data from the US offices of a Fortune 500 healthcare company, we show how managers’ mobility is associated with a decrease in subordinates’ financial rewards, but an increase in their promotion prospects.
Teaching
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MGMT1010 - Intro To Management
We all spend much of our lives in organizations. Most of us are born in organizations, educated in organizations, and work in organizations. Organizations emerge because individuals can't (or don't want to) accomplish their goals alone. Management is the art and science of helping individuals achieve their goals together. Managers in an organization determine where their organization is going and how it gets there. More formally, managers formulate strategies and implement those strategies. This course provides a framework for understanding the opportunities and challenges involved in formulating and implementing strategies by taking a "system" view of organizations,which means that we examine multiple aspects of how managers address their environments, strategy, structure, culture, tasks, people, and outputs, and how managerial decisions made in these various domains interrelate. The course will help you to understand and analyze how managers can formulate and implement strategies effectively. It will be particularly valuable if you are interested in management consulting, investment analysis, or entrepreneurship - but it will help you to better understand and be a more effective contributor to any organizations you join, whether they are large, established firms or startups. This course must be taken for a grade.


Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation type Ig (ALG12-CDG) is part of a group of autosomal recessive conditions caused by deficiency of proteins involved in the assembly of dolichol-oligosaccharides used for protein N-glycosylation. In ALG12-CDG, the enzyme affected is encoded by the
ALG12 gene. Affected individuals present clinically with neurodevelopmental delay, growth retardation, immune deficiency, male genital hypoplasia, and cardiomyopathy. A total of six individuals have been reported in the literature. Here, we present an infant with rhizomelic short stature, talipes equinovarus, platyspondyly, and joint dislocations. The infant had marked underossification of the pubic bones. Exome sequencing was performed and two deletions, each resulting in frameshifts, were found in ALG12. A review of the literature revealed two infants with ALG12-CDG and a severe skeletal dysplasia, including under-ossification of cervical vertebrae, pubic bones, and knees; in addition to talipes equinovarus and rhizomelic short stature. The phenotype of the individual we describe resembles pseudodiastrophic dysplasia and we discuss similarities and differences between ALG12-CDG and pseudodiastrophic dysplasia. The differential diagnosis in selected undiagnosed skeletal dysplasias should include CDGs. Keywords: ALG12; ALG12-CDG; CDG-Ig; congenital disorder of glycosylation; severe skeletal dysplasia; whole exome sequencing.


This research investigates lower income older households’ preferences for a range of alternative housing models and examines which of these would best meet their needs, as well as identifying ways to support households deciding their housing options. The findings of this project provide key evidence for consideration in developing a market for alternative housing options.
Seven alternative housing models were presented to a nationally representative sample of older people. These composite models—each with a unique combination of tenure, construction, location, social composition, shared space and technology characteristics—included a mixed use apartment building option; a cooperative housing option; a communal housing option; a transportable home option; a shared equity home ownership option; a dual key property option; and a village-style housing option.
The shared equity home ownership model; cooperative housing model; and transportable home model were substantially preferred by lower income housed older Australians. All three alternative housing models met the short and long-term housing needs of the respondents and would also deliver benefits in terms of people’s non-shelter aspirations for home including independence, privacy, security of tenure, ability to have companion animals, and room for friends, family or a carer to stay.
Survey respondents expressed a strong liking for rights of ownership (84%)—through the dual key housing option and the shared equity housing option—and a long lease option (83%). Housing options that included other tenure arrangements, such as shared governance and management (59%) and land owned and retained by government (68%), were considered less desirable.


Why Unified Communication Jobs Aren’t Going Away
Unified Communications duties are typically attached to the network engineer position. In even smaller shops, the responsibility likely lies with the sysadmin or resident IT pro. With the ever-increasing number, variety, and power of the devices for IT to manage and integrate, the job of Unified Communications will only expand. The capabilities of business communications devices and systems are skyrocketing, and the potential for transforming work has barely been touched.
UCC is a framework, not a technology
Business communications occur via voice, messaging, conferencing, video, and shared workspaces. They can occur at the desk, in a conference room, or at nearly any kind of worksite via smartphones and tablets.
Previously, the original electronic communication technology for end users was the desktop analog phone. Voicemail appeared, adding asynchronous communication to the real-time immediacy of the phone call. Fax machines, pagers, email, networked PCs, instant messaging, cell phones, and text messages followed. Workers soon had a dozen communications methods to fumble against. Couldn't these work together as one system?
Unified Communications (UC) aims to integrate all the available business communications services to seamlessly support your work, optimizing business processes and increasing productivity. It's not a technology, but a strategy and framework for interconnecting communication services.
Integrating communications is accomplished by a mix of:
Manual procedures and training
Off-the-shelf components: back-end systems including UC platforms and communications hardware; and front-end client devices and software
Specially-developed domain- and business-specific systems and applications
The improvements that UC brings to processes and productivity may include eliminating device and media dependencies, reducing latency in business processes, improving team and inter-team coordination, reducing travel costs, better managing workflows, and enabling entirely new workflows.
Various companies offer suites of Unified Communications products, including Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Mitel, and Avaya. The term Unified Communications and Collaboration is also sometimes used, as companies offering collaboration platforms have expanded to offer communication services, and the UC providers now offer collaboration services.
The growing importance of Unified Communications
As the number, variety, and power of devices for IT to manage and integrate grows, the job of Unified Communications will only become more significant.
Businesses where voice phone and email once sufficed are seeing the possibilities. For knowledge workers, business communications are evolving into integrated collaboration environments that enable continuous multi-mode one-to-many communication.
For everyone else, streamlined communications-enabled business processes spanning desktops and mobile devices will provide easy access to business apps, shared data, and on-demand collaboration.
Global marketplace and workplace.Gartner notes that companies need "solutions that support their employees' need to collaborate from anywhere, at any time, and from any device." Companies need UC expertise if the technology is to alleviate the disconnect when customers, coworkers, and subcontractors are in distant locations and disparate time zones. The Cloud. Unified Communications is moving into the cloud: Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) – or, when we add Collaboration, UCCaaS. The early adopters of UCaaS were small and midsized business betting on the improved scalability and simpler operations the cloud promises; they're now also gaining superior functionality due to the faster innovation the cloud enables. Larger enterprises are joining them, as they become more confident about the reliability, performance, and security of UCaaS. Many companies will opt for a hybrid cloud that includes on-premises UC, leveraging their existing investment and gaining flexibility that permits incremental adoption.
All those companies will need expertise in the deployment and operation of UCaaS and hybrid UC, including how to monitor and troubleshoot a hybrid cloud environment. They will also need UC professionals who can address integration and compatibility in a multi-vendor environment.
Digital Workplace Initiatives. Unified Communications is crucial to ongoing and upcoming initiatives to leverage mobile strategy and digital transformation.
Telecommunications has historically been associated with slow complicated upgrades over multi-year cycles. But innovation in business communications is accelerating. The cloud promotes cost-effective and rapid deployment; and APIs, microservices, and bots provide the toolkit for quickly developing and evolving new capabilities that are integrated with existing services and business apps.
Rapid cycles offer the flexibility to develop specialized workflows and apps targeting particular domains and use cases within the business. Innovation in workstream collaboration tools and communications-enabled business processes will determine success in the marketplace, and Unified Communications will be central to that.
Bright and busy future
The capabilities of business communications devices and back-end platforms have grown dramatically and the value of converging disparate systems into a seamless environment that turbocharges business processes and productivity is only increasing. The job of Unified Communications can only grow.
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INTRODUCTION in vivomodels of other animals such as bovine [6], murine [7], canine [8], porcine, and caprine discs to understand the disease mechanisms in the human nucleus pulposus (NP). However, due to inter-species differences, their value for understanding disc pathology is limited, which emphasizes the need for proper human controls for molecular-level studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS 1. Harvesting the Human IVD Tissues From Brain Dead Organ Donor 2. Protein Extraction from Human IVD Tissues and Clean-up Prior to In-Gel Prefractionation 3. Sample Clean-up using an Organic Solvent to Remove the Interfering Glycans From the Proteins before Proteome Analysis Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry 4. Tryptic Digestion, Peptide Extraction, and Purification Using C18 Spin Columns 5. Relative Quantification by Spectral Count 6. Gene Ontology and Pathway Enrichment Analysis 7. Clustering and Protein-Protein Interaction Network cytoHubba[10]. Top 10 ranked proteins were identified using cytoHubbaplugin based on one of the important network scoring methods: Degree. Proteins with higher degrees are considered to be more essential proteins. 8. Histology and Immunohistochemistry RESULTS 1. Enrichment of ECM Proteins From NP Tissues 2. Identification of NP Related Proteomic Signatures by 1D Gel Analysis 3. GO Analysis 4. Pathway Enrichment Analysis 5. Cluster Analysis and PPI Networks cytohubbabased on 3 crucial network topological parameters: degree, maximum neighborhood component (MNC), and closeness (Fig. 7A, B). From both degree and MNC parameters, the top 10 proteins ranked in the following order: ALB (albumin), FN1 (glycoprotein), GAPDH (glycolytic pathway enzyme), TIMP1 (ECM regulators), HP (haptoglobin), C3 (complement), COL1A1, APOA1 (lipoprotein), VTN (vitronectin, glycoprotein), and CLU (clusterin). Based on closeness, we observe the same order of proteins as above except SERPINA1 (ECM regulators) and ceruloplasmin instead of APOA1 and CLU. 6. IHC Evaluation DISCUSSION 1. Normal IVD Proteome 2. Optimization of Appropriate Methodology 3. Validation of the NP Phenotype 4. Proteomic Signature of Adult Human IVD 5. Collagens 6. Glycoproteins 7. Proteoglycans 8. Serine Protease Inhibitors in vivoand in vitroin disc disease. Neutrophil elastase is a critical regulatory molecule in degenerative and inflammatory diseases through its active involvement in proteolysis of elastin and collagen-IV of ECM. SERPINA1, which is one of the top-ranked proteins in our PPI analysis, plays a vital role in inhibiting neutrophil elastase and thereby is essential to inhibit a catabolic cascade of events [32]. While SERPINE2 inhibits the extracellular proteases via the internalization process [33], SERPINA3 inhibits a pro-inflammatory enzyme called neutrophil cathepsin G and helps in limiting ECM remodeling, coagulation, apoptosis, and inflammatory process [34]. The expression and function of other SERPINs and their correlation in normal IVD need to be elaborated with more experimental evidence to understand its role in the maintenance of normal homeostasis.


Market penetration by farmers' markets varies geographically
Farmers’ markets are a significant source of fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, and other items sold directly from the producer or farmer to U.S. consumers. Data from August 2012 show that across much of the United States the number of farmers’ markets continues to grow. Since 2009, counties that showed the largest increase in the number of farmers’ markets per capita tended to be near urban areas, particularly along the East and West coasts and in the historically industrialized parts of the Midwest. But counties where the number has declined relative to population are often adjacent to or surrounded by those that showed the largest growth, suggesting that these local markets are dynamic and heterogeneous despite their geographic similarities. Areas where the density of these markets relative to population is the most stable tend to be in the most sparsely populated parts of the country, likely reflecting a population density too small to make new or additional markets economically viable. This map is from ERS’s Food Environment Atlas.
Download higher resolution chart (450 pixels by 296, 300 dpi)


Many public and private schools require students to undergo a physical exam before starting a new academic year. At Everyday Urgent Care, the team of expert urgent care providers offers school physicals and pre-employment physicals to people of all ages. If you need a school physical or a work physical, make an appointment in Maywood, New Jersey, by calling the office or booking online today.
A school physical checkup assesses your child’s general health and well-being. It identifies and diagnoses potential medical conditions that might affect their ability to thrive in a classroom setting. For example, if your child is nearsighted, they might have trouble seeing the blackboard. If they’re hard of hearing, they might misunderstand instructions on an assignment.
Routine school physicals can alert you to potential issues early on, ensuring your little one receives the care they need.
School physicals and pre-employment physicals are often mentioned together, but they’re two different things.
School physicals assess your child’s health to diagnose any underlying medical issues that might affect their performance in the classroom. If your child plays sports at school, their provider can also recommend warming up and cooling down to reduce the risk of an injury.
Pre-employment physicals assess your physical and mental health to ensure you can withstand the responsibilities of a new job. If you apply for a position that requires operating a commercial vehicle, like a bus or a semi-truck, you might have to undergo a physical before receiving your license.
No two school physicals are exactly alike. The team at Everyday Urgent Care tailors treatment to you or your child’s needs. Even so, there are several steps you can expect, including:
At the beginning of a school physical, your child’s provider looks at their skin for any moles, bumps, or unusual growths. They also measure and weigh your child, check their reflexes, and listen to their heart and respiratory rate.
Next, your child’s provider examines their ears, eyes, nose, and throat. They gently palpate their organs to assess their size and location and assess your child’s flexibility, muscle strength, and range of motion.
After a comprehensive physical exam, your child’s provider orders on-site testing, including blood work and urinalysis. These tests help identify underlying issues, like high cholesterol, vitamin deficiencies, or hormonal imbalances.
Lastly, your child’s provider updates their immunizations. Many schools require students to have certain vaccinations before enrolling. Your child’s provider can order new prescriptions or refill current ones if necessary.
At the end of your or your child’s physical, the team at Everyday Urgent Care fills out the necessary paperwork. You can then submit that paperwork to your employer or your child’s school administration.
To learn more about school physicals or pre-employment physicals, make an appointment at Everyday Urgent Care by calling the office or booking online today.


Editorial:
Special Issue on Micro-Nano Materials and Processing Seiichi Hata
With MEMS/NEMS being intensively developed for both consumer and industrial products, micro-nanofabrication is now moving from academics to industrial use. MEMS/NEMS and precision microdevices used in conventional photolithography, technology and suitable fabrication methods are now being selected based on materials, device structure, and fabrication cost, among others. These fabrication methods could become the frontier of manufacturing technology in many application areas.
The themes treated in this special issue include the latest advanced research on micro-nanomaterials and processing for MEMS/NEMS and precision microdevices. These papers are expected to contribute much to further developing MEMS/NEMS and precision microdevices.
In closing, I would like to thank the authors for their valuable submissions and the reviewers for their incisive efforts, without which this special issue would not have been possible. We are most grateful to all who have contributed their time and effort to ensuring this issue’s success.
Int. J. Automation Technol., Vol.9, No.6, p. 611, 2015.
This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.


It is a myth that Artificial Intelligence will automate everything and replace jobs. AI only enables faster processing and provides an accurate analysis, but humans are irreplaceable in drafting strategies and making key business decisions. Therefore, AI must not be viewed as a threat, but as a tool to amplify human potential and accelerate organizational growth.
A treasury manager’s day-to-day activities include:
Some of the tasks that can be automated are:
And the tasks that can be enhanced (optimized) are:
A treasury manager’s large part of work is stuck in administrative work which is routine and repetitive work and that doesn’t stretch their skill sets. With AI managing mundane tasks, the managers can unleash their business acumen and redirect their focus towards challenging and high-priority activities.
The new digital era calls for new skills for the treasury team:
Analysts usually focus on transaction-focused, low-value, and repetitive manual work. However, nowadays they need to refine their communication and technical skills and focus on analysis, visualization, and making recommendations.
Managers are responsible for people management and team productivity. They need to hone their business planning and communication skills and concentrate on high-value tasks like analysis, KPI management, continuous process improvement, and controls.
Treasurers focus on managing liquidity. For bringing more value, they need to hone their technology competency and communication skills and focus on important metrics, and strategic opportunities.
The 4E framework helps embrace new technology:
4E Framework
The HighRadius™ Treasury Management Applications consist of AI-powered Cash Forecasting Cloud and Cash Management Cloud designed to support treasury teams from companies of all sizes and industries. Delivered as SaaS, our solutions seamlessly integrate with multiple systems including ERPs, TMS, accounting systems, and banks using sFTP or API. They help treasuries around the world achieve end-to-end automation in their forecasting and cash management processes to deliver accurate and insightful results with lesser manual effort.


Feeding your child, whether with breast milk or infant formula, meets a basic need. Whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding, these are always moments of sharing. The maternity team will help you discover the behavior and rhythm of your baby. Do not hesitate to ask them questions.
During the first 24 hours of life, babies usually sleep a lot, between three and six hours at a time. Take advantage of these moments of sleep to rest yourself.
The first meals
As early as the second or third day of life, most babies wake up very often and want to suckle frequently. These close feeds comfort your child and stimulate milk production for breastfeeding mothers. This phase can be trying, but it passes. The support of your partner or a loved one is welcome. The feeding intervals of bottle-fed babies are greater.
Later on, babies develop their own rhythms, with irregular and often unpredictable phases of wakefulness and sleep. The feeds are close at certain times of the day, and further spaced out at others.


Does narrow focus activate alternative referents?
Braun, B., Weber, A., & Crocker, M. (2005).
Does narrow focus activate alternative referents? In Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology
(pp. 1709-1712).
Narrow focus refers to accent placement that forces one interpretationof a sentence, which is then often perceived contrastively.Narrow focus is formalised in terms of alternativesets, i.e. contextually or situationally salient alternatives. Inthis paper, we investigate whether this model is valid also inhuman utterance processing. We present an eye-tracking experimentto study listeners’ expectations (i.e. eye-movements) withrespect to upcoming referents. Some of the objects contrast incolour with objects that were previously referred to, others donot; the objects are referred to with either a narrow focus on thecolour adjective or with broad focus on the noun. Results showthat narrow focus on the adjective increases early fixations tocontrastive referents. Narrow focus hence activates alternativereferents in human utterance processing
Publication type
Proceedings paper


The Hong Kong government has tried numerous strategies to keep real estate prices from spiraling out of control and experts expect their latest attempt to work better than the rest. The Buyer’s Stamp Duty will impose a 15% additional tax on all companies and individual buyers who are not residents of Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the Special Stamp Duty that’s already in place has been raised from 15% to 20% for homes resold within six months of purchase. Analysts at Knight Frank believe the new taxes will likely curb price increases, but if they don’t it’s predicted that the government will impose yet more cooling measures. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire.
A new Buyer’s Stamp Duty introduced for the residential property market in Hong Kong is likely to cool the sector, according to analysts, and if it doesn’t then more measures could be on the cards.
At the end of October, the Hong Kong government introduced the new BSD and extended and intensified the existing Special Stamp Duty (SSD).
Under the new policy, local and foreign companies as well as non-permanent Hong Kong residents have to pay an additional 15% BSD when buying homes in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, SSD has been extended for three years and rates have been raised from 15% to 20% for a resale within six months of purchase; from 10% to 15% for a resale within six to 12 months and from 5% to 10% for a resale within 12 to 36 months.
Following strong price growth in 2012, to date, the residential market is now likely to cool as a result of the new measures, according to the latest monthly report from Knight Frank.
It shows that the number of residential transactions totalled 71,012 in the first 10 months of 2012, but is expected to reach only 75,000 by the end of year, compared with 84,442 transactions in 2011.
Demand from speculators and investors is expected to be checked by the increased policy risks and investment costs. ‘This will be particularly apparent for primary residential projects, where a significant proportion of buyers are companies or mainlanders,’ says the report.
‘Developers, facing suppressed demand, are expected to become less aggressive while setting prices for pre-sale residential units and adjustments to selling strategies are also anticipated,’ it adds.
It also says that secondary home owners are likely to hold on to their properties or release them onto the leasing market, given the current low interest rate environment and new stamp duty policies. Potential buyers who cannot afford the high prices, or are waiting for a price drop, are expected to shift towards the leasing market. Therefore, the leasing sector is expected to remain strong with sustained supply and stable demand.
‘Speculators, having been deterred by the new policies, have shifted their focus towards non-residential sectors such as commercial, industrial and even car parking space. A significant increase in car parking space transactions was witnessed after the enforcement of the policy,’ says the report.
‘The trend for residential price movement will be uncertain in the short term. However, after the market has digested the negative impact of the new policies, we expect demand from buyers, including mainlanders and speculators, will return in the medium to long run. Prices of luxury homes should remain stable or experience mild price growth, due to limited supply,’ it explains.
‘However, we believe the government may launch further cooling measures if home prices start to rise significantly, again,’ it concludes.
This article was republished with permission from Property Wire .


Cleaning your pool filter helps to maintain its function for safe, clean water that always looks inviting. If you have a sand filter, cleaning out your filter too often can be detrimental. Backwash the filter only when it has risen 10-15 lbs from the pressure reading after it was last cleaned. A diatomaceous earth filter should be cleaned slightly more often, after its pressure has risen 10 lbs from the clean value. To backwash this filter, move the switch between “filter” and “backwash” several times, allowing the filter to remain on each setting for a few moments before switching again. You may need to add more diatomaceous earth material after cleaning is complete. If your pool uses a cartridge filter, it should be removed and rinsed with a hose rather than backwashed. Wash your cartridge filter twice per pool season, and have it replaced every few years for the best performance.
Paradise Pools And Spas provides filter material, pool chemicals, and more for regular maintenance of your pool. We also build, remodel, and repair swimming pools throughout the Jackson area. Give us a call at (888) 928-0360 or click on our web contact form.


As a fire and police training professional, your primary focus is to help grow and provide continual development for your fire and police workers. Many programs have adopted a digital approach, LXR included.
However, creating a paper-based archive provides the following value:
Helps maintain individual records Keeps a detailed chain of evidence of trainee performance Retains an exact image of test form
You have to manage a lot of requirements and exams associated with fire and police training. Using an automated test management system can help accurately measure the success of your program with these features and functionalities:
Using the same form for paper and online Scoring and creating item banks and test print paper forms for traditional test administration Directly archiving trainee responses Maintaining equity through testing Collecting data for reports
We understand the need for maintaining a paper trail and are here to help. Scantron offers a solution to import your LXR items and automatically scores your paper test. If you’re ready to reduce the burden associated with training, testing, and scoring for your fire and police training, contact Scantron.


Materials 2030 Manifesto Over the past 6 months, Umicore joined forces with other private and public organizations for a common vision and purpose: to build a European advanced materials ecosystem that will enable the transition towards a green and digital economy. With the support of the European Commission, the different parties, including Umicore, have recently co-developed and co-signed the “Materials 2030 Manifesto” presented to EU Commissioner for Research & Innovation, Mrs Mariya Gabriel, on February 7th.
Advanced materials are key enabling technologies. They deliver the solutions to reach climate neutrality, circularity and sustainability. The Manifesto not only outlines the research and innovation (R&I) areas where they will make a difference to achieve the European green deal (reaching climate neutrality by 2050), but highlights the importance on how these materials should be developed.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, Europe realized its dependency on other regions for its strategic value chains and now wants to reinforce its autonomy and preserve its technology leadership. Therefore, the paradigm and future of European R&I in advanced materials needs transformation. Enhanced circularity and responsible practices should be part of each and every development focusing on sustainable and safe advanced materials. Additionally, the incorporation of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotization, high throughput analytics and modelling will be a key pillar to increase speed of development of advanced materials.
The Manifesto is the first step in increasing awareness, leading to the expansion of funding capacities for advanced materials, aligning funding agendas and priorities from the EU, different Member States, and industry to move towards the same direction, and building a strong network of capacities & competences for advanced materials development in the EU.
More concretely, in the coming months the Manifesto should engage with relevant groups of stakeholders such as EMIRI (the energy materials industrial research initiative) to define a solid strategic R&I roadmap with key priorities. The set-up of a transparent and balanced governance body will also be critical, representing key sectors between public and private bodies and covering the different EU countries. Umicore will support in every step of the process as we have the know-how in advanced materials and a broad network of key players in the value chain to shape the Materials 2030 Manifesto initiative.


By: Amanda Wilson & Ferran Arimon
On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced tax relief legislation, which includes among other benefits, rebate checks to individuals and families. The Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act would authorize the Internal Revenue Service to send rebate checks up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for married couples, with an additional $500 per child. The payments would be reduced for individuals with incomes above $75,000 ($150,000 married couples), and would be eliminated for those individuals with incomes in excess of $99,000 ($198,000 married couples).
In addition, the Internal Revenue Service previously announced a 90-day extension to the normal April 15 deadline for paying incomes taxes for many individuals and corporations (discussed here). The legislation goes further to delay the actual tax filing deadline until July 15, and allows individuals and corporations to postpone paying their estimated tax obligations until October 15. The legislation also allows employers and self-employed workers to pay their 6.2% employer’s share of payroll taxes over the next two years. Employers can elect to pay half of their obligation by December 31, 2021, and the other half by December 31, 2022.
Other tax benefits found in the bill are:
Companies can immediately write off expenses for physical improvements to real property rather than depreciating over 39 years. This would fix a prior glitch in the Internal Revenue Code and is expected to be a significant benefit to the hospitality industry. Businesses with net operating losses from 2018, 2019, and 2020 can carry back those losses up to 5 years, and the taxable income limitation is temporarily removed (i.e., net operating losses can fully offset income). The 30% interest expense limitation introduced by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will be increased to 50%. This means businesses would be able to deduct interest expense up to 50% of their adjusted taxable income for 2019 and 2020. The 10% early withdrawal penalty for disbursements out of qualifying retirement savings will be waived if individuals are responding to coronavirus-related circumstances. The income from the distribution would be recognized over three years rather than in the year of the disbursement, and the withdrawn funds can be recontributed within three years without being subject to the annual contribution caps. To encourage charitable gifts, the 50% adjusted gross income limitation on charitable deductions for individuals is suspended, and the 10% limitation for corporations is increased to 25%.
This legislation has not yet been enacted, and has met with criticism by some Democrats. We will continue to monitor this situation and will update you on the progress of this or other tax relief legislation.
Be sure to visit our Taxing Times blog, as well as our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response Team page, to keep up to date on the latest news.
This article is informational only. You should consult an attorney before acting or failing to act. The law may change rapidly and no warranty is given. LOWNDES DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ALL ARTICLES ARE PROVIDED AS IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS. Consult a Lowndes attorney if you wish to establish an attorney/client relationship.


Byzantine consensus and its generalization to Byzantine state-machine replication (SMR) lie at the core of blockchains, where they ensure the consistency of replicated state even in the presence of malicious replicas. Byzantine SMR protocols often guarantee safety under all circumstances and liveness only under synchrony. However, guaranteeing liveness even under this assumption is challenging, and this has often been a source of subtle bugs. To improve this situation, I will present a modular framework to facilitate the design of provably live and efficient Byzantine SMR protocols. Our framework relies on a *view* abstraction generated by a special *synchronizer* primitive to drive the protocol. I will present a simple specification of a view synchronizer and its bounded-space implementation under partial synchrony. I will also explain how we applied our framework to produce the first rigorous liveness proof for the algorithmic core of the seminal PBFT protocol.
This is joint work with Manuel Bravo (Informal Systems) and Gregory Chockler (University of Surrey).
Please email for a
Zoom
link
Alexey Gotsman is an Associate Research Professor at the IMDEA Software Institute in Madrid, Spain, where he holds an ERC Starting Grant. Alexey obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2009. His research interests are at the intersection of distributed systems and formal verification.


Abstract
Background: Rituximab, a chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, is an effective treatment in steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome (SDNS). However, some patients develop adverse reactions. Case-Diagnosis/Treatment: Patient 1, a 14-year-old boy with SDNS since the age of 2, was treated with oral prednisone, cyclosporine A (CsA) and mycophenolate mofetil. A first infusion of rituximab at age 12 years was well tolerated, but this was followed by a prolonged relapse unresponsive to oral prednisone, mycophenolate mofetil and CsA. A second rituximab infusion was attempted, but treatment was interrupted due to severe dyspnea. Treatment with a humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, ofatumumab, was then attempted. The patient experienced a mild allergic reaction and maintained remission despite interruption of all treatment at >12 months of follow-up. Patient 2, a 3-year-old boy who presented at 18 months with nephrotic syndrome initially resistant to treatment with oral prednisone, was given with three intravenous boluses of methylprednisolone followed by CsA and achieved remission. Upon steroid discontinuation, the NS relapsed. Prednisone was restarted and treatment with a single dose of rituximab was never completed due to a severe allergic reaction. Ofatumumab infusion was uneventful, and he maintained remission during the follow-up period (>12 months) despite interruption of prednisone therapy. B cells reappeared at 7 months in both patients. Conclusions: Ofatumumab may be a therapeutic option in severe forms of NS with allergy to rituximab.
Keywords Adverse reaction Children Ofatumumab Rituximab Steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome Steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome ASJC Scopus subject areas Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health Nephrology


In a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month, William J. Mellin, the New York Credit Union Association’s president/CEO, urged that front-line credit union personnel be included within the next phase of the COVID-19 vaccine.
On behalf of the credit unions located across all geographic and socio-demographic regions of the State of New York, we thank you and your administration for the continuously exceptional leadership demonstrated through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, credit unions throughout the Empire State have continued to closely monitor and follow the directives issued by your administration and the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) to ensure the financial industry maintains the highest level of safety for our respective employees and the millions of members and customers we serve on a daily basis.
We are proud of our dedicated employees who have stepped up to this challenge and, in some cases, placed themselves at risk to ensure New Yorkers could maintain access to the financial system during these economically challenging times.
We are aware that the State of New York has developed the steps and protocols to ensure the safe and efficient distribution and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine through the New York State COVID-19 Vaccine Program. According to the document, vaccinations will be administered in phases based on population risk and categories of essential workers.
We write to respectfully ask that frontline credit union employees who have been deemed by the State of New York as “essential workers” and through their employment function come into contact with members of the public — such as tellers and loan officers — be included in the next phased distribution of the vaccine (i.e. phase 2).
We believe these frontline workers face the highest risk of COVID-19 infection; inadvertently pose a risk of spreading the virus if infected; and continue to remain essential — especially in communities where residents may not have access to electronic banking tools.
Again, on behalf of our respective organizations, we truly thank you for the leadership, commitment, and consistent information provided by your administration throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.


A 15-year-old girl with a history of poorly controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus presents to the emergency department with a 4-day history of generalized swelling. She initially noticed bilateral lower extremity edema and right-sided facial swelling that subsequently progressed to include both sides of her face, her abdomen, pelvis, and labia. She also reports a 9-lb (3.54-kg) weight gain. She denies pain, fever, vomiting, loose stools, chest pain, or shortness of breath. Current medications include insulin glargine and insulin aspart. She has only become compliant with this therapy in the past week.
On physical examination, the teen’s weight is 51 kg (41st percentile), height is 155 cm (13th percentile), and body mass index is 20.1 (54th percentile). Her vital signs are within normal limits. She is in no acute distress. She has mild facial edema, moderate abdominal distention without fluid wave, mild right upper quadrant tenderness, and 2+ pitting edema...


Data Exposure: Inevitable and Ubiquitous
A key responsibility for an IT security professional is to secure the business’ information assets, be that customer data, financial information, or any other critical information. Often the focus is on controlling flows of sensitive data over the perimeter or within the network, perhaps with Data Loss Prevention solutions. This approach misses data that is already exposed across the digital footprint of the business which extends beyond the perimeter, throughout the supply chain. Data exposure is already a big challenge, and it continues to grow.
This data loss can lead to loss of competitive advantage, fines for non-compliance, and funds lost to fraud. This guide outlines how to detect, analyze, and remediate data leakage–including a treasure chest of free tooling.